Low immediate scientific yield of the PhD among medical doctors

Abstract

BackgroundWe studied the scientific yield of the medical PhD program at all Danish Universities.MethodsWe undertook a retrospective observational study. Three PhD schools in Denmark were included in order to evaluate the postdoctoral research production over more than 18 years through individual publications accessed by PubMed.ResultsA total of 2686 PhD-graduates (1995–2013) with a medical background were included according to registries from all PhD schools in Denmark. They had a median age of 35 years (interquartile range (IQR), 32–38) and 53 % were women at the time of graduation. Scientific activity over time was assessed independently of author-rank and inactivity was measured relative to the date of graduation. Factors associated with inactivity were identified using multivariable logistic regression. 88.6 % of the PhD theses were conducted in internal medicine vs. 11.4 % in surgery. During follow-up (median 6.9 years, IQR 3.0–11.7), PubMed data searches identified that 87 (3.4 %) of the PhD graduates had no publication after they graduated from the PhD program, 40 % had 5 or less, and 90 % had 30 or less. The median number of publications per year after PhD graduation was 1.12 (IQR 0.61–1.99) papers per year. About 2/3 of the graduates became inactive after 1 year and approximately 21 % of the graduates remained active during the whole follow-up. Female gender was associated with inactivity: adjusted odds ratio 1.59 (95 % confidence interval 1.24–2.05).ConclusionsThe scientific production of Danish medic PhD-graduates was mainly produced around the time of PhD-graduation. After obtaining the PhD-degree the scientific production declines suggesting that scientific advance fails and resources are not harnessed.

Science in the clinic: a qualitative study of the positioning of MD-PhDs in the everyday clinical setting

“…Such equivocality, in turn, makes it difficult to measure the MD-PhDs’ value. Often they are judged by their number of publications [ 18 ], but as we found and as pointed out in other studies, the MD-PhDs also contribute in other - less measurable – ways. For instance, Garrison & Deschamps [ 42 ] emphasize that MD-PhDs and physician scientists make valuable contributions to research in other ways than as a principal investigator by serving as consultants and advisors or collaborating on grants.…”

“…This is a higher percentage than is seen in countries such as the USA or European countries such as Finland, Norway, and Germany [ 16 , 17 ]. In particular, critics of the increased number of MD-PhDs have focused on the limited research activity in MD-PhDs [ 18 ] and have speculated that some physicians merely do a PhD as a “shortcut” to being admitted to the clinical specialization of their choice and then subsequently stop doing research altogether. Advocates for the increase in the number of MD-PhDs in their turn have argued that MD-PhDs contribute in others ways than exclusively doing research [ 19 , 20 ].…”

Comparison of scientometric achievements at PhD and scientific output ten years later for 4,790 academic researchers

“…When looking on different scientific field-specific variances, we observed the weakest correlations in Medicine, Biology, and Physics sections for all three parameters compared to other sections. Most probably, the daily routine work of physicians in patient treatment often discourages publication activity [ 20 ]. On the other hand, bibliometric indicators achieved at the year of obtaining PhD are outstanding in Medicine, as confirmed by previous other studies as well [ 21 ].…”

Productivity Characteristics of the Thesis Rate of PhD Students in Biomedical Areas of the Different Doctoral Programs in Lima, Peru

“…According to the study by Fosbøl et al .,[ 13 ] the scientific performance of medical doctorate programs in all Danish universities is poorly studied. Therefore, they conducted a retrospective study including three doctoral schools in Denmark to assess postdoctoral research output over 18 years through individual publications accessed by PubMed.…”